The Last Stand
by Prospit Monarch
Summary: SATaM based. "He tortures us, not for information, but for the fun of it." "If we killed each other, he’d have no one to torture...no one to watch suffer." Rating could go up.
1. Prologue

_At first this story was supposed to only be a oneshot (Chapter 1), but I had a good amount of people off of DeviantArt ask me to continue, so I did. So far I think it has turned out well, but then again not many people goto an art site to read a fanfiction, which is the reason I made an account here. _

The story of Last Stand is set in the future version of SATaM were Robotnik has the upperhand in the war. Most of the Freedom Fighters have been capture or eliminated, except for a select few. This is the story of these 'select few' and there last stand against a maniacs empire.

Ahem, now then, the characters:

Sonic, Tails, Amy, Sally, Rotor, Antione, Jet, Robotnik, SWATbots, and the Roboticizor belong to SEGA and Archie

Leon and Rowan belong to me

* * *

Broken. Helpless. Defeated.

Almost every inch of his body was covered in metal chains, restraining him from walking or even using his arms. That wasn't a problem; metal drones had been carrying him from the beginning, or more appropriately, the end of a long battle.

It hadn't been an easy fight for either side. The SWATbots had numbers on their side, while the rebels had a better defensive position. Either way SWATbots would have won in the end, but with just them alone would have taken days and their master couldn't wait that long.

So the cavalry was called in; the Combat Robians. More skilled and powerful than any SWATbot could ever become, these Combat Robians demolished the rebels base, along with most of the resistance. Only a select few had been left to live, although most of them would have taken death as the alternative.

Shackled from head to toe the captives walked, save for one who was being carried by two Robians at the front. The bound blue hedgehog struggled in his bonds, trying with what little strength he had left to break free. It was no use, he knew that from the beginning, but his pride kept him from going down without a fight.

After a while he stopped, realization starting to set in. He'd been captured and was being taken to certain slavery at the hand of the man who he had sworn to defeat; Robotnik. Hanging his head the hedgehog cursed the tyrant's name. If he hadn't started the war none of this would have happened!

None of his teammates would be dead.

None of his friends murdered.

None of them forced to follow his rule..

Even to have the love of his life forcefully taken away and made a slave.

The hedgehog slowly looked to the Robians carrying him, neither of them even glancing at him. He humorlessly chuckled and hung his head again, wondering what was going through the Mobian part of the two slaves. Were they scared? Angry? Sad that they were taking the Hero of Mobius to certain doom?

In the end he shut out the thoughts; better to think of a way out of his capture than of something he could possibly never find out.

- - - - -

Robotropolis had changed over the years, not so much aesthetically but in scale. Buildings soared into the sky, all with robots coming in and out them at an almost never ending stream of metal. One building terrified the small band of captives more so than the tallest skyscraper they had passed and they had good reason to.

A very egg-shaped building planted right in the middle of the sky stood as its capital. Everything started there; the war, the robians, the tyrant who controlled them all.

Eventually the group made it to the front gate of the building, where they stopped. After a few seconds of odd silence the robots of the group began to move once again.

The Mobians were forced into a horizontal line in front of the door, all except Sonic, who was pulled a few feet away from the group. An equal number of SWATbots and Combat Robians stood behind the captives, who were fearfully looking at one another, and there were even a few who looked to Sonic for help.

" By order of Lord Robotnik." One of the Combat Robians boomed, startling the Mobians to an almost attention-like stance.

" You have all been condemned traitors to his majesty and their for must be terminated."

One-by-one the robots opened fire on the 'traitors', each cry and plea for mercy to forever haunt the blue hedgehog as he was forced to watch them be slaughtered.

- - - - - - - -

Numbly the hedgehog acknowledged the small convoy being to walk again, the rest was almost a blur. Walking through hauntingly empty corridors, twisting through the maze like structure of the building before they finally reached the top.

Now being held by only one of the two Robian guards, Sonic was dragged into the 'kings' throne room. At the sight of the fat overlander the hedgehog fiercely growled, wishing that he could have five seconds of freedom to punch the smirk off of Robotnik's face.

"Ah, Sonic. It's so good to see you again. Tell me, how has your Princess been doing?" The tyrant asked casually from his dark green chair that sat in the middle of the room.

"You sick, twisted basta-" The Robian carrying him suddenly threw the hedgehog to the floor, cutting him off mid-sentence.

" Heh heh….Careful what you say, hedgehog. I could make this experience a living nightmare for you."

After watching Sonic feebly try to stand up, Robotnik waved his hand towards the Robian. "Take those chains off of him; he won't be needing the them."

The Robian, after a quick salute, walked over to the hedgehog, picking him up with ease, then quickly started to unlock the chains bounding him.

As soon as he was set on the ground he shot forward, a wild grin on his muzzle. It was quickly knocked of his face by some invisible force field blocking Robotnik. Rubbing a sore nose Sonic stood up and put his gloved hand on the force field. Hesitantly he took it down, turned around, and then reached his hand out, only to have it stop only a foot away from his body.

"You really think this will hold me?" Sonic laughed, hoping Robotnik wouldn't notice his ever rising fear.

The human said nothing, only watched the terrified hedgehog with a smirk.

"Nothin'? I thought you'd have some whole speech ready."

"Not even a chuckle?"

"Come on! You're starting t-"

"Did you ever wonder what your Princess said before she was Roboticized?" Robotnik said with a shadow of a smile on his face.

"W-Wh-?"

"She kept calling for you. Pleading for me to let her go, to spare her of her fate.."

"A tear-jerking sight Sonic." The overlander replied as he whipped a fake tear form his eye.

"I wish you would have been here to see it."

Sonic pounded his fists on the glass surrounding him, angry tears at the corner of his eyes. "What did you do to her!" He roared with such hatred Robotnik laughed.

"You really want to know?"

Sonic growled as he slammed his fist into the glass again.

"Fine, I shall show you."

The blue hedgehog froze as the door into the small room suddenly opened, followed by metallic footsteps. Sonic's sudden furious anger disappeared as quickly as it came and it was replaced by a horrible, horrible fear.

"S-S-Sal..?" Sonic's voice shook as he slowly turned around, only to have the sight before him rip his heart in two.

A misshapen creature stood in front of a SWATbot, its hands bound behind its back. All over the creature's body, which could have once been that of a squirrels', were metallic patches of circuitry. There were a number of brown patches of fur over the creatures frame, all coated in dried blood, along with scars both new and old.

The blue hero sank to his knees, tears staining his muzzle. "H-How…?"

At the sound of her old friends' voice, Sally looked up, her half roboticized face covered in disbelief. "S….Sonic?"

The half-Robian squirrel took a step towards Sonic, glanced towards Robotnik, and then raced towards him. Sally sank down to her knees once she reached the glass cylinder holding the blue hedgehog.

"I-I thought you were dead.." Sonic croaked as he slowly raised a shaky hand to the glass.

"Now is not the time." Sally replied with a shake of her head. "You need to get out of here and help out the others."

The hedgehog snorted and looked down.

"Don't give up, not now. Everybody else still out there needs you."

"Everybody?" Sonic frowned as he shook his head. "Sally, there is nobody left."

The squirrel could hardly believe what she was hearing and it scared her. "Sonic, please. You are the only hope people have left, and if you're gone they'll lose what little fight they have left."

"How do you know anybody is still out there?"

"Because they haven't brought in T-"

"I'm sorry to interrupt your little 'reunion'." Robotnik snapped his fingers and instantly the SWATbot walked forward and grabbed Sally. "But I have other things I must attend to."

Sally struggled against the SWATbots' vice-grip. "No! Wait, I-"

"You what?" Robotnik growled, which quickly silenced the squirrel. "Hmph, I thought so."

"Now then, my worthy foe.." The human shifted his gaze to the hedgehog, who was glaring back him. "I have been waiting for this day since I first started this war against you and your horrible kind.."

"Welcome to the ranks of my Robian Army, Sonic the Hedgehog."

* * *

So how was it? Good? Bad? Great? Awesome? Let me now by clicking the review button.

Even though the Prologue is set following around Sonic, the rest of the story will not, for obvious reasons of course.


	2. Chapter 1

The oneshot that started it all. Now you'll have to bear with me here, I wrote this chapter back in early 09' while the rest of the chapters are newer, written around late 09'-early 10'. I think, not sure what others think, that my writing has changed a lot since this one. Whether it be for the better...I don't yet. Heh, anyway, enjoy.

SATaM characters and Jet belong to SEGA/Archie

Rowan and Leon belong to me

* * *

"Crap." The sounds of pursuit grew louder as the SWATbots closed in on there target, a Ram. One of the last original Freedom Fighters alive. The ram continued to run as fast as he could, jumping over boulders and dead trees. "Come on. I'm almost there." He mumbled, out of breathe. There was only a few yards left until he reached safety, but in those few yards he could die.

The ram risked a glance over his shoulder, and he soon wished he hadn't. Behind him five red lines were bobbing up and down. SWATbot helmets. The ram looked forward again. The forest of dead, lifeless trees were beginning to thin. He was running out of time. "Only one chance at this…"

The dark navy blue robots continued there chase, that is until they reached a small open clearing with a group of rather large boulders in the middle. The ram was nowhere to be seen. Even heat sensors weren't picking him up. "Subject: Ari…….Location: Unknown.: The lead robot droned, scanning the area once more. "Orders……..Return to base." The group of SWATbots turned around and headed back the way they came.

Ari laid his head against the cold stone a breathed a sigh of relief. If those SWATbots had looked harder, they would have found him hiding behind the group of 'boulders'. They hadn't picked him up on heat sensors because the 'boulders' were actually made of a thick metal alloy that Robotropolis was made out of.

Ari peaked out from behind the rocks to make sure the bots had gone and, sure enough, they were nowhere to be seen. He stepped out form behind the rocks and looked up at the smoke covered sky. After a couple minutes, he sighed. It wasn't safe out there. Ari walked over to the largest rock of the group and placed his hand on it. A small square of green light flashed, and then a large rectangular piece of the rock moved away, revealing a poorly made group of dirt stairs. He entered the rock and, once he was on the fourth step, the door behind him closed, cutting out the world.

The ram was almost instantly hit with a bright light. He blinked a few times before he could see clearly again and see the room around him. Ari was standing in a wood and steel room with about eight other Mobians, all of which were thin and wounded. A group of them (four to be exact) were huddled over a table with a map atop it, trying to figure out there next move. Three others were in the far corner, sleeping. Standing in the center was a pink hedgehog with a torn and dirty dress on. She smiled and embraced Ari when he entered.

"Did you find them?" She asked. The group of four Mobians looking over the table raised there heads and looked at him expectantly.

"I wasn't able to get close enough." Ari replied, looking down.

"W-What do you mean?"

"The patrols have been upped; I couldn't get within a mile of it."

"What!?" Ari and the hedgehog both looked over at the group. Walking toward them was a brown wolf. Artemis. The ram looked down at the pink mobian and sighed. "Amy, go see what Tails is doing. I need to talk with Artemis."

Reluctantly, Amy turned around and walked away. She didn't want to go see Tails. Sure, they were friends but he was always working. The most important matter in her mind was what had happened to Freedom 5, a large outpost near Robotropolis. There had been no signal from the outpost for three weeks now, and the outlook was grim. The thought of a technical malfunction was on everybody's mind. Tails, even though he didn't want to say it, told them there was no problem with the transmitters.

Amy shook her head, trying to push away the idea everybody at the outpost was dead, or worse, Roboticized. She knocked on the wood wall next to the entrance of the lab. Inside was a table at the far end, scattered with pieces of metal, and other larger pieces of metal on the floor. At the table was a two-tailed yellow fox, who's ear twitched when Amy knocked. "Come in."

The pink hedgehog walked in, not even glancing at the metal around her. She had already seen them many times before. "Hey, Tails." She said with a small smile. The fox immediately put down what he was doing and turned around to face her. "Hey, Amy……What's wrong?"

"Nothings wrong, Tails."

"No, something's wrong. I can tell by your eyes." He frowned. "Is Ari back?"

"Yes…"

"Any news?"

"No…"

Tails sighed and turned back around. He picked up the twisted piece of metal that he was working on and looked it over.

"Uhm….Tails? Can I…..ask you something?"

Without turning around Tails replied, "Yeah."

"Do you…….think they made it?"

Tails stopped fiddling with his 'invention' and looked at the wall. He had tried multiple times to contact Freedom 5, all failed attempts. The transmitters were working, he was sure of it. The only problem was nobody was answering on the other end. Even though the thought unnerved him, he didn't think they had made it. None of them.

"I….I don't know, Amy."

Amy closed her eyes and fought back tears. She didn't want to lose anymore of her friends. She'd already lost so many. Sally, Rotor, Bunnie, Dulcy, Charmy, Cream, Vanilla. All were either dead or Roboticized. Suddenly she felt a hand on her shoulder. She slowly opened her eyes to see Tails stand in front of her with a sad look on his face.

"Don't worry. They have Sonic and Mighty there, they should be fine." He tried to reassure Amy, but even he doubted his words. Sonic hadn't been himself last time Tails saw him. His blue friend was still grief stricken over Sally's death, who had died only a couple months ago.

Amy hugged Tails and buried her face in his chest, crying. She couldn't take it anymore. She wanted all this death and destruction to end. Even if that peace was after death, she'd gladly welcome it.

"THUD."

Both hedgehog and fox looked up at the ceiling, fear every present on their face.

"THUD."

Tails ran into the other room, Amy not to far behind. Ari had thrown over the table with the map on it by the time they entered the room.

"THUD."

"Tails! Go and get every weapon you can find, now!" Artemis yelled, handing a chair to Aries.

"THUD."

Amy ran after Tails as he went back into the lab. She went and stood next to the table, shaking with fear as Tails searched through the room for any sort of weapon.

"THUD."

Tails ran back into the main room with a few SWATbot arms, blaster attached, two long medal rods, and a flash grenade. He passed out all the weapons to each Mobian. "Tails.."

"THUD."

"..I want you to hide back there, okay? Don't come out until you're sure Robotnik's forces are gone. " Tails nodded at Ari's command and headed back into the lab.

"THUD."

Amy threw over Tails' workbench, just as Ari had done, and hid behind it along with Tails.

"BANG!"

The metal door that had blocked the only entrance into the small base suddenly flew back, hitting the stairs. The sound that followed was almost unbearable by the Freedom Fighters down below. Silence. Complete and utter silence. Nobody even dared to breathe when the door was finally blown in.

Minutes passed without a single sound. Amy was tempted to scream just to make the ear piercing silence stop. But she held her tongue, not wanting to alert whatever had found their base.

The long silence suddenly shattered as a soft metal clanking sound echoed off the walls. Ari slowly looked over the makeshift shield to see what it was. A small metallic ball bounced off the final step and hit the wood floor. The ram knew exactly what it was. "Smoke grenade!"

The small metal grenade exploded, sending both rooms into a thick fog. Amy wrapped her arms around Tails and shut her eyes. She knew what was coming next.

The loud "thud" of footsteps sounded from the stairs, followed by laser fire. The rapid succession of fire continued, along with the occasional sound of metal against metal, for only a few minutes. The silence quickly returned as the fire stopped. Ari leaned forward, breathing heavily, and strained his ears to hear anything. The last sound he ever heard was the loud splintering of wood.

"Get back!"

Tails flattened his ears, trying to block out the cries and screams of pain from the other room. He wanted to do something, anything to help out. But he could do nothing to help his dying comrades.

The cries slowly began to stop, sending a chill down Tails' spine. They were either all dead or half alive. The only sound both he and Amy could hear was the shuffling of feet. And it was growing louder.

Tails pulled Amy closer to him and silently prayed there death would come swiftly.

The table the two Mobians were hiding behind was suddenly lifted off the ground and thrown back into the other room. The robot quickly identified the two, sent the information back to Robotropolis, and waited for an order.

Capture.

"By order of Lord Robotnik…"

Tails slowly looked over his should at their captor. The one thing he never wished to see was standing before him.

"You two are under arrest."

The blue robotic hedgehog raised its right arm at the fox, blaster aimed at his head.

* * *

Character Ages:

Ari: Eh…around 20-21

Artemis: 28

Tails: 12

Amy: 7


	3. Chapter 2

Oh hey, look! Another chapter!

_

* * *

_

_Robotization. Many say it is a fate worse than death. But it never started out that way. It was supposed to be a way to live longer, to get away from disease and death. Scientists' hailed it as a break through in technology, only to later call it a curse upon Mobian kind. _

The gray skies of Robotropolis slowly changed. A pure dark gray to a lighter shade, signaling another day has come. Like every other day that forsaken city, the battalions of SWATbots marched through the whole area. Searching. Searching for anything, any form of life to harm or destroy. But today was different.

The news had spread like wildfire through each mindless program. The last Freedom Fighter's had been caught. All the patrols of the outer rim of the city had been canceled. There was no more need to patrol those areas.

The captured fox and hedgehog arrived at Dr. Robotnik's throne room, a large circular room with only one door and one large green chair in the middle of the room. Their captors were quickly dismissed, except Sonic. He was ordered to stay.

"So you two are the last of the mighty Freedom Fighters…." Robotnik chuckled, looking over the two Mobians.

Tails glared at the doctor, struggling to free himself from the binds on his hands and feet as he did. He made a promise to himself before they entered Robotropolis, he would fight, even in the face of death.

Amy was the complete opposite. She, like Tails, had binds on her hands and feet, but she didn't fight them. The pink hedgehog had given up hope. She knew they wouldn't make it out of here 'alive'. With her head down, she began daydreaming of the past when everything was better.

Sonic, who was standing behind the two bound Mobians, lightly jabbed Tails in the back, making him stop struggling against his restraints immediately.

Tails had gotten over Sonic's robotization rather quickly. He'd seen it before with many of his other of his friends. It was an almost 'common' sight. The fox glanced over his shoulder. What met him were two red unblinking eyes.

Robotnik, noticing this, grinned. "What does it feel like? Being captured by one of your friends?"  
"You're sick. Turning friends against friends." Growled Tails. "What do you /think/ I feel like?!"

"That's all you can come up with? Your blue friend came up with a better response than that."

Tails slowly shook his head. " I wish I could make you feel this way….Being captured and having to see your own brother follow someone you've both fought for ages. And against his will." He shut his eyes, fighting back tears. "You sick, sick twisted madman…."

Robotnik clapped and smiled at the fox. "Bravo, bravo. Yours was almost better than that blue vermin's. But, sadly, it wasn't. "

Tails clenched his gloved hands into fists and bit his lip. How could he make 'joke' out of this? He wanted to punch Robotnik square in the jaw, but he couldn't. Sonic would most likely shot him before he even reached Robotnik. But he had to stay; he had to be there for Amy.

The partial robotic tyrant suddenly clasped his hand together. " Now, let us get to the end of this meeting." He quickly pressed a small green button on his 'throne' and laughed.

Suddenly, two cylindrical glass tubes shot down from the ceiling, quickly encasing Tails and Amy. The sudden "whoosh" of air and electrical zap of the shackles turning off snapped Amy out of her daydream and, upon looking up, froze with terror. She'd heard of the horrors of Robotization, but she never thought of being roboticized herself.

Tails slammed his fist into the glass, all thoughts of revenge replaced with a sudden terror. He had to get out. The horror stories of Robotization played through his mind as he looked over at Amy, then to Robotnik.

"Now then……Who shall be first?"

That simple question sent shivers down Tails' spine. A simple two-letter response could easily make either one of them the first to be roboticized.

After a few seconds of no response from either Mobian, Robotnik spoke up. " Well then, I guess I shall have to choose."

The tyrant looked from Tails, to Amy, and back. He didn't say anything; he wanted to savor this moment. He finally made up his mind. A devilish grin spread across his face as he eyed the fear stricken hedgehog.

"Today is your lucky day Amy, you get to be the first one to be Roboticized today." Robotnik said to the hedgehog in the nicest voice he could muster.

For a few seconds Amy didn't say anything, then she started to slowly shake her head, muttering the word "no". She didn't want to be another mindless robot like all the others; she wanted to be Amy, nothing else. But that was a wish that might never be granted.

Almost like it was nothing, Robotnik pressed the green button on his chair, sending Amy screaming in pain. The pain she felt was like nothing she had ever experienced before, and hoped never to experience again. She was screaming so hard, her throat started to burn. It only stopped when the robotization process reached her head. Almost as quick as it began, it was over.

Tails didn't dare look up, even at the sound of the glass cylinder rising back into the ceiling. In a way, he'd failed her. She trusted him to look after her and protect her, but now she was a robotic monster. Without noticing it, he quickly whipped away a tear on his muzzle.

"Unit 13999A, step forward."

The low "clank" of Amy's footsteps shook Tails to the core; he'd never felt so alone.

"I'm giving you the honors of roboticizing the last Freedom Fighter…"

"Yes, sir."

The sounded of Amy's distorted metallic voice made Tails look up. His vision was suddenly cut off by blinding pain that shot through him, but he'd already seen enough. Amy wasn't the normal young hedgehog who would annoy him to death any more, she was a robotic killer who would do anything Robotnik said. The fox shut his eyes and screamed at the fierce fiery pain in his legs.

The last thing Tails remembered was a blinding pain through his legs, falling to the floor, and two red eyes glaring down at him.

* * *

Dun. Dunnn. Dunnnnn~


	4. Chapter 3

_The warm summer breeze slowly flowed across the hill, causing the seemingly endless sea of green to roll, as if they were waves. Below the small, clear hilltop was a large patch of green grass that stretched on for a few miles before being covered by a thick forest. The sky was clear of any clouds, smoke, or ash. It was as if the war had never happened._

Atop of the hill was a group of Mobians, all laughing, chatting, and just having a good time. There were exactly five of them, Tails, Amy, Sonic, Rotor, and Bunnie. All were sitting in a circle. Tails sat next to Amy and Sonic, while Bunnie sat next to Sonic and Rotor. None of them had a flicker of doubt in their minds as they talking with each other.

The group suddenly broke out laughing as Bunnie finished telling a story about Sonic, who rolled his eyes and laughed along with the others.

"H-He really did that?" Tails asked after he finished laughing.

"Sure did. Poor Sugah' didn't see it comin' till it was too late. Ain't that right?" Bunnie replied as she patted Sonic on the shoulder with a smile.

"Yeah. I mean, how the heck would I have known there was a brick wall around the corner?" Sonic sighed and rubbed his head as he remembered the incident.

The group continued to tell each other jokes and stories. They were all having a great time, except for Amy, who seemed to be jumpy the whole time. Tails, who had noticed it, asked her what was wrong, but she didn't reply.

Tails chuckled and raised his hand. "Okay, okay. I got one. What do you call a half Leopard, half Wolf? A-"

"Tails! Tails!"

Tails turned around to face where he thought the sound was coming from. It came again, but closer, and soon enough Ari coming running up the hill. He was tired, bleeding, and looked terrified out of his mind.

"Tails, we have to get out of here, now! We don't have much time!" The ram yelled at the fox and he scanned the area behind him.

"Ari, w-what are you doing here? And what happened you look-"

"I told you we don't have much time! Now lets……Oh dear Mobius no."

The ram stared, wide eyed with fear, at the four figures behind Tails. Slowly, he began to take steps backwards.

A sudden, loud machinery-like sound began to emit from behind the golden-brown fox. Driven by both curiosity and fear, Tails turned around. Instead of his four friends smiling at him, there were four robotic creatures all glaring at him with red eyes. Two hedgehogs, one rabbit, and a walrus.

Tails looked back behind him, but Ari was already gone. Alone and scared, he turned back around again to look at the four robots. The pink hedgehog-like robot stood directly in front of him, its unnaturally long clawed hands raised. There was something eerily familiar about the robot too.

Before Tails could even open his mouth to cry out, the pink hedgehog jumped on him, digging its claws into his neck.

Tails awoke with a start and quickly sat up. Panting, sweating, and unable to see anything two feet in front of him, he began to try and listen to his surroundings. For a few minutes there was nothing except his overly working heart, then there was a soft sound of footsteps nearby.

Still unsure where he was, and who was with him, he angled his head to where he thought the noise was coming. It took only a few more seconds before a white figure was insight. Once it got closer, Tails was able to make out more features. It was cat-like, had white-ish gray fur and black spots, and a dark gray vest and pants of the same color. The cat also had a robotic left arm.

"You're fine, kid. Calm down." The cat had a gruff voice, with a hint of an accent. One Tails wasn't able to properly identify. The cat placed its right hand on the fox's shoulder, a small smile on his face.

"Where am I?" Tails asked in a quiet voice. He still wasn't sure whether he should trust the cat or not. Not since after what happened with Bunnie.

"Exactly? I have no idea. But I do know we are somewhere inside of Robotnik's headquarters." The white cat replied with a shrug.

Robotnik. Tails shut his eyes for a moment as he tried to remember the last time he saw that tyrant. Amy and him were both being taken to him, and then two glass cylander-like tubes encased them. After that the fox could only remember bits and pieces of the rest.

"Amy…" Tails mumbled, opening his eyes to look back at the cat. "Amy, is she here? Did she come here with me?"

The cat slowly began to shake his head. "I'm sorry, kid. You're the only one the SWATbots brought in…"

The terrible screaming from Tails' memory now had a new meaning to him. With a small, sad chuckle he shut his eyes again and laid back down on the bed.

The white leopard took his hand off the fox's shoulder and sighed. "I'm going to go find you some water…."

Alone yet again, Tails sighed and shook his head. It was all going so well four years ago. They were winning; they were going to end the war. But then she got captured, and it all went down hill. You could say they had gotten too cocky.

Breaking into Tails thoughts, the leopard held out a small wooden cup. Sitting up slightly, Tails grabbed the cup with one hand.

"Thanks, um…."

"Oh, sorry. I've forgotten my manners. The names Leon."

"Thanks, Leon. And the names Tails." The fox smiled back at the cat before greedily drank the water.

After Tails handed the cup back to Leon, the cat left the fox alone again for a few minutes. During this time, Tails tried to see if he could see anymore of the room he was in. The floor directly under, and around, the bed was now easily visible. So was the rest of the rusty steel bed. That's when he noticed the old, dirty blanket over his legs.

Sure, it was just an old looking blanket, but the odd thing was is that he couldn't feel it on his legs. And now that he thought about it, he couldn't feel his legs either.

More out of curiosity than fear, Tails pulled the covers off his legs.

There, where his legs should have been, were two gray-orange metallic legs. The first image that came into the shocked fox's mind was that of his old friend, Bunnie.

Very slowly, he began to try and move one of his new 'legs' by thinking about the movement itself. The right robotic leg brought its knee up, then down again.

By now Leon was already back and he was watching the fox with a small sad frown on his face.

"I'm sorry, kid. I knew I should have told ya' sooner….but I didn't know how to let you know.."

Tails looked up at the white leopard with utter confusion in his eyes.

"W-Why? Why doesn't he just roboticize us and get it over with?"

"It gives him something to do. I haven't told you this either….I never want to, but you're going to have to find out sooner or later." Leon sadly shook his head, as if reliving what he was about to say. "He tortures us, not for information, but for the fun of it. We are the last living of our kind, the last enemy he might ever face for a long time. So why doesn't he finish the job and roboticize us? Because it would end it, for both of us. He would lose a source of 'entertainment', and we would lose our race as a whole. "

" I know I shouldn't really be surprised but…..he really does that?"

"Yeah, but not just to me, the others get it pretty rough too."

Tails cocked his head to one side. "Others?"

"Dang, I forgot to tell you that too? Heh, sorry. We haven't had anybody new come here for a while. I'll let you meet the others here but…..do you think you can walk?"

* * *

I was tempted to rewrite this chapter, and a few others after it, but decided against. Mostly because this is the way I uploaded it on dA and I want to keep it the same.


	5. Chapter 4

After many tried, and failed, attempts to get Tails to stand up, it finally worked. It only took the two eight minutes to make it work. Walking straight was a different problem. It was almost like watching a child try and take their first steps. They'd fall, walk a little funny, or just have their legs crumple right underneath them. But ten minutes later, along with a couple curses from Leon, Tails was able to walk somewhat in a straight line.

The small group of two made there way through the darkness, Leon leading the way. They came to the corner of the room; in the corner was a circular wooden desk. Atop the desk was a green bird with red shoes, gloves, and cracked goggles on its head. It was sitting with its back against the wall, head down, and right leg brought up towards the bird's body, concealing the right side of its face.

Leon lightly kicked the table, causing the bird to open its right eye and glare at the leopard. "Jet, you aren't just going to sit there for the rest of your life. And besides, the kid finally woke up."

Jet looked over the fox with his one open eye and nodded.

"He's going to have to find out sooner or later." Leon replied to the motion with a slight growl.

"You know how I feel about what he did to me." Jet's voice was high pitched as usual, but it also had a slight metallic ring to it, like he was talking through a tin can. He sighed; a sound that was like a can of compressed air was released more than a real sigh. The green bird then raised his head and turned it to reveal the right side.

Tails looked down, to keep himself from staring. Like his legs and Leon's arm, the whole right side of Jet's face was a green-ish gray group of metal plates made to look like the other side, as well as part of his beak.

"Take a good, long look. We've all got it better than the rest of 'em." Jet said as he opened his right eye, which was just a glaring red group of lights. The whole sight of Jet's face was very disturbing to Tails. But that wasn't even close to what he was going to see next.

"Thanks, Jet." Leon said with a nod.

"Hmph, you still owe me, Leon." Jet snapped back as he went back into the position he was before.

The cat just shook his head and walked away with Tails following close behind. The room was a little more visible to the fox, mostly from his eyes adjusting to the darkness. He still couldn't see the whole room itself, but things were clearer from a far distance. Like a Mobian shape in the opposite corner from Jet.

Upon coming closer to the form, Tails was able to make out a fox-like shape similar to his own, only taller. This fox was a odd shade of dark gray, with lighter gray pants that were more conjoined pieces of fabric than real pants. Just like Tails and the others, this fox was partially robotiziced, only he was far more robotic than Mobian. Whole limbs would be fully robotic, and others would have robotic patches here and there. Like the fox's legs, the left was fully robotic while the right's upper half was normal fur compared to the gleaming silver lower half. It was the same for the fox's arms, face, and chest.

Closely similar to Jet, the fox was sitting against the corner with his eyes shut and arms crossed over his chest.

It was either the sound of Tails' metal footsteps or the sound of the two of them approaching the young golden-brown fox wasn't sure, but the gray fox's eyes opened. The left was robotic, while the right was only half robotic, half Mobian.

"What do you want?" Unlike Jet's metallic voice, the fox's was normal despite the fact he was half robot.

"This is Tails, the new kid." Leon said as he nodded down to the young fox.

The eyes of the gray fox moved from Leon to Tails, and he then examined the new face. "Let me give you some advice, kid. Don't bother me and it'll save both of us a lot of trouble."

"You couldn't hurt him even if you wanted to." Leon replied back.

"..If it wasn't for that one thing you'd all be dead by now.." The fox growled.

" And I'd be eternally grateful if you did kill us. I'd much rather be dead than in this hell-hole any longer."

"..You can thank Robotnik for that."

Leon snorted and shook his head again. "See you later, Rowan."

"I'm not going anywhere."

The leopard then turned around and walked away, leaving Tails with Rowan. Noticing that Tails wasn't following Leon, the gray fox spoke up in an agitated tone, " Well, what do you want?"

"W..What did you mean about not….killing us?"

"Heh, you probably wouldn't understand if I told you, but what the hell. "

" The Doctor took something out of those Robians and modified it for those who were only partially roboticized. It's some…block is the only word I can think of for it. It refrains any of us from hurting each other or our self. It sounds great, being forced not to hurt somebody you want to, but after being in here for months with little food and being constantly tortured….you'd beg for somebody to finally kill you. " Rowan shook his head. " That's why he created that block. If we killed each other, he'd have no one to torture…no one to watch suffer."

Tails swallowed nervously as he looked at the pained fox's face in front of him. Even though they would never truly be 'friends', they were all in the same place with the same problem. And they couldn't live like this for the rest of their lives.

"Now get back to that cat….I need to think." Rowan closed his eyes again, there was a sudden wave of sorrow Tails felt for the fellow fox. He'd probably been through much more than Tails could ever imagine, and he seemed to be holding up better than him.

Tails turned away and began to walk where, he thought, the strange rusty steel bed was. In only a couple seconds the bed-like shape came into view, and Leon was sitting on top of it.

"Um…..Leon?" Tails began a little nervously.

"Let me guess, Rowan told you something?" Leo replied without looking away from the ground.

"Ye-Yes. It was about that…block.."

"..And now you want to know more about it?"

"Well…yes."

Leon sighed. "Alright, since Rowan probably told you the basic info. I'll go into more detail. From what we know anyway.."

"The block is like a second conscious, except this one you can't choose to follow it or not. You could compare it to those who have been roboticized; not having a choice in an action. This block was taken from the robotization software in Robians and altered to fit Robotnik's needs. How he did it, we have no idea. But the end result is clear." Leon then suddenly raised his hand and swung it down as if to hit Tails, but stopped only mere inches away from the fox's head. There was a strained look on Leon's face, like he was doing everything he could to try and hit the fox. With a heavy exhale he let his arm drop back to his side.

" I can't hurt you, you couldn't hurt me, and we can't hurt ourselves."

"..H…How long has it been like that?"

"Wow, you ask a lot of questions. I thought you'd be the one to sulk around like Jet. Ahem, it's been like this for a long time, but not the whole time I've been here. Before this thing was put in, Jet, Rowan, and I had all tried to commit suicide. Each time we were stopped by SWATbots storming in."

There was an eerie silence that came after Leon had finished. It was suddenly broken by the sound of a bolt and lock being undone from the door somewhere across the room.

Leon cursed under his breath. "..I forgot to tell him…" He whispered, standing straight up. "Alright, just follow me."

Even though the leopard told Tails to follow, he had grabbed the fox's arm and pulled him into the middle of the room, where Rowan and Jet were already waiting. They quickly formed a line facing the slowly opening door. A bright blinding light entered through the door, blinding all four Mobians.

Then there was the low sound of something hitting the floor, followed by the door shutting…..

* * *

_Cliffhanger~_

_Don't you love me for doing that?_


	6. Chapter 5

As soon as the door came to shuddering stop, Rowan and Jet were already headed back to their corners. Leon on the other hand went straight forward, toward whatever had been thrown into the room with them. Tails took a couple steps toward where the cat went but stopped. When the bright light had entered the room, it reset the fox's natural night vision, making the room utterly black before him once again.

"Tails, I'm over here by the bed. Just follow my voice." Leon's distinctive voice came from Tails left. The fox turned and began to walk, hoping he was going the right way.

Soon enough, Leon and the small rusty bed came into view. The leopard was standing over the bed, where someone now lay. The cat turned to Tails with a slight frown on his face and motioned for him to come.

"..I meant to tell you….She seemed to know who you were, she didn't leave your side until the SWATbots came in and got her.." Leon looked down at the ground and took a big side step to his left, reveling who was on the bed.

It was a squirrel, female by the look of it. She, like Rowan, was half roboticized all over her fragile frame, leaving only patches of fur left. Those patches didn't have much fur left on them either. Scars, old and new, covered her body, along with fresh blood that was smeared over her partially robotized chest.

Tails mouth hung open as he stared at the squirrel before him. She had been officially claimed dead months ago by the one person she loved. But she was alive, living the worst possible torture. And by the looks of it, the end of Robotnik's hate and anger.

"I..Is she okay..?" The fox asked in a voice hardly above a whisper.

"Yes…." Leon replied with a small nod. " She gets the worst treatment out of all of us…"

The cat then placed his hand on the fox's shoulder.

"We should let her rest….How about I tell you more about myself and the others. I think we'll be in this place for awhile anyway…."

Since time in the small dark room was non-existent, Tails couldn't exactly tell how long he had been talking with Leon. Through that time, though, he was able to learn a lot about Leon, Jet, and Rowan.

For example, he learned Leon was the leader of a group of Freedom Fighters from the mountains. What happened to the rest of his group, Tails didn't ask. But he had a good idea what.

Both Rowan and Jet were members of different mercenary groups. ( And later he learned the groups had a vicious rivalry with each other ) Rowan's group, the Shadow Rogue's, was a group that would work with whoever would pay the highest. So he and his 'crew' had worked for both Freedom Fighters and Robotnik at times. Only at the last mission they were double-crossed by Robotnik, and his whole team, besides him, was roboticized.

Jet's group was very similar to Rowan's, except they wouldn't kill anybody, only find objects or retrieve information. They, like the Shadow Rogue's, would work for whoever paid the highest, and that meant they also would work for both sides. The last mission Jet and his team, the //////Babylon Rogues////, were on was one from the Freedom fighters, and that time they were caught. Jet knew what happened to his team, for he was the last to be put into the roboticizer, but he never spoke of what exactly happened.

After Leon finished talking about what happened to Jet and his group, the same bolt on the door began to come undone. The cat jumped to his feet, but this time Tails had a good idea of where to go. Once the four of them were in the middle of the room, a roboticized dog came in with a small tray of food, hardly enough to feed just one of the prisoners.

The group split the food up in silence, except for Rowan, who complained about having to also feed the newcomer. After Tails and Leon finished their small portion of food, they made there way back to the rusty old bed. The half roboticized squirrel was now sitting up on the bed with her back against the wall and eyes closed.

Leon suddenly stopped, and so did Tails. The fox looked up at the leopard, who just nodded and walked away, back into the darkness. With a small sigh Tails continued to walk forward, slightly…nervous.

"S…Sally?." With no immediate response from her, Tails tried again. "Aunt Sally?"

The squirrel suddenly opened her, which were surprisingly still normal, and looked at Tails. A smile appeared on her face, but it quickly disappeared and was replaced by a frown.

" Tails…"

Tails, overcome with joy that Sally was still alive, ran forward and embraced her. They stayed like that for a good long minute, before sally spoke again.

"Tails..I'm so sorry.."

Tails looked up and whipped the tears on his muzzle.

" It wasn't your fault Aunt Sal-"

"No, Tails, it was… I shouldn't have left Bunnie…" At the mention of her old friends' name, Sally broke down crying, resting her head and Tails' shoulder.

" Nobody could have seen it coming Sally…"

Again the two lapsed into silence while they still silently embraced each other, trying to find some comfort in the dark cell…

* * *

_Hmph, short chapter, I don't really like it._

_But hey, it gets the job done; now you know Sally is still alive, barely, but alive._


	7. Chapter 6

**_Those who don't like seeing/reading torture like scenes should stop reading here and leave. _**

* * *

It seemed like hours, maybe even a day, it was hard to tell how long it had been since Tails found out Sally was still alive, albeit barely. It had been a bittersweet reunion though; only a few hours later they were both called to meet with Robotnik.

" Whatever you do, don't give in. " Was all Leon had to say before Tails and Sally were both forcefully escorted to Robotnik, shackles on their hands and feet.

Once outside the cell, Tails knew exactly what part of the city they were in. He'd been here before on a rescue mission with Sonic. Down that hall was the old SWATbot factory. Over there was the power storage unit..

Tails snapped out of his thoughts as the low hum of two doors sounded in front of him. Their escort SWATbots shoved them into the room, and then the door slammed shut behind him. Even the guards were afraid to be in there.

The room was the same as last time. One door and one sickly green chair in the middle with an over weight man sitting upon it. Only this time there were three robots accompanying him. On the left was the blue hedgehog, beside it was a brown and purple bunny like robot, and on Robotnik's left was a smaller, more fragile pink robotic hedgehog. Each of the three robots had a large staff, on the end of which had a glass container around the ends of the staff.

" Come on.." Tails held back a growl towards Robotnik as Sally gently elbowed him. He turned his head to look at her, and was surprised to see sadness in her expression. " If we don't go up to him…he'll make it worse for both of us.."

Sally slowly began to walk toward the grinning tyrant, who was loving every moment. Tails, glaring at Robotnik, followed behind the squirrel, before long they both stopped a few feet in front of him.

" Sir." Sally spoke in an even tone as she slowly bowed her half-robotic head to the tyrant, who just nodded to her.

Tails glanced at her, and she was staring at him from the corner of her eye, urging him to do the same. Looking back at the tyrant, who's grin had grown, the fox bowed his head as well.

He knew he had done something wrong even before the metal clank from one of the robots walking towards him began. Risking a glance up, Tails saw Amy quickly walking towards him, the staff clenched in her hands. Once close enough, she quickly jabbed the encased end of the staff into Tails' side.

The fox ground his teeth together to stop himself from yelling as electricity suddenly coursed through his system. Suddenly his legs gave out beneath him and he fell to his knees, gasping for breath. Tails looked up, then another shot electricity shot through him.

"S-Sir." He managed to say before Amy jabbed him again.

" You learn fast." Robotnik remarked as his grin faded. " Pity."

"Now get up."

Amy quickly grabbed Tails' ear and pulled him up, nearly ripping his ear off in the process. The fox glanced at Amy, her blood red eyes almost glaring back at him. He quickly tore his gaze away from her and looked back at Robotnik, who was studying the half-Robians in silence.

Suddenly the man stood up and slowly made his way towards Tails. He stopped in front of the fox, a small smile on his face. Robotnik then looked over at Amy, placing his robotic hand on her shoulder.

" It's a shame really.." The tyrant began as he looked Tails directly in the fox's eye. " She really looked up to you, and you let her down. "

Tails visibly flinched at his words and quickly cast his gaze to the floor.

" While she was slowly and painfully being turned into the robot she is now, Amy was looking at you. "

" And you ignored her cry for help."

By now Tails has shut his eyes, trying to fight off angry tears and the sound of Robotniks taunts.

" She was banging on the glass, trying, pleading, to get your attention. Yet you ignored her again.."

" Tails, help me.."

The fox's head shot up, pain and fear on his face. Amy's voice came again, only it was coming from the robot next to Robotnik. It was mocking him, making him suffer. And it was working.

Tails slowly shook his head, fearfully staring at the pink robot. He slowly took a few steps backwards, only to bump into Sonic, who was there to make sure the fox suffered every moment.

" I trusted you.."

The pink hedgehog robot was walking towards him, its arm out stretched in a pleading motion.

" And you let me down.."

" I-I…" Tails stuttered as he watched the robot walk towards him, helpless to do anything but cry, out of both pain and fear.

" Why didn't you save me?" Amy was now only a few inches away from the fox.

" You said you would.." She slowly reached out and touched the side of Tails' face, only to have him flinch away.

" I was so scared.."

Tails wanted to look away, not have to go through this, but he couldn't. Sonic was holding his arms, keeping him from moving, and now Amy was holding his chin, making him look at her in the face.

"Please….stop." The fox muttered as he shut his eyes, trying in a desperate attempt to cut off the nightmare.

Silence.

Seconds. A minute. Two minutes. Five minutes.

Nothing. No taunts, no threats, no words of comfort.

Were they gone? Was….was this all some sort of crazy dream? It took Tails a few minutes to muster up enough courage to open his eyes and figure it out.

"Join us."

Amy, Sonic, Robotnik; all of them were still in the same position when Tails had closed his eyes.

"W-What?" The fox croaked as he focused his gaze on the metallic pink hedgehog.

"Join us." The robot pleaded. "You'll see all your friends again…"

"Cream."

"Bunnie."

"Sonic."

Tails stared hopelessly at the robot as it, no – she, kept listing off names of people roboticized by Robotnik. All of them he knew at some point or another in his young life. All of them mindless drones..

"No." The fox cut Amy off in the middle of yet another name in her long list. "I-I wont join you.."

"Yes you will." She replied in a soft tone that sent chills down Tails' spine. "You won't be able to fight against Lord Robotnik when the time comes."

"Y-You're wrong. I'll fight, n-no matter what. " Tails replied, trying to hide his fear under the small bit of courage he had left. "F-Freedom Fighters always win."

The robotic minion laughed, a chilling, warped version of Amy's giggle that caused the fox to recoil slightly in fear.

"Look around you!" She sneered, the mask of kindness dissolving in a few simple words. "Your kind is gone! Defeated! Your so called Freedom Fighters have been destroyed! The only hope you have now is a swift roboti-"

"Amy snap out of it!" Tails cried as he tried to lunge towards her, frustrated tears rolling off his muzzle. Sonic, reacting quicker than the fox, grabbed hold of his arms, keeping him away from Amy. "What happened to you! You were the only one left who actually had hope in winning this thing! You were the one who kept us all going when we thought it was lost!"

The metallic hedgehog took a half step backwards, acting as if she hadn't except the young fox to act that way.

"I know you're still in there. Robotnik is making you do this..Fight it! I know you can! I know you're sti-!"

Amy's deadly claws wrapped around the fox's neck, freezing him in utter fear. "The Amy you know is gone." The creature hissed in such a vicious tone Tails believed it was telling the truth. "Only I exist now, and soon you shall be the same." The electric staff swung and hit Tails hard in the chest, knocking the breath right out of him.

Slowly, with Robotnik grinning like the devil behind it, the robot closed its' claws around his neck, cutting off his air. In his last few seconds of consciousness Tails cried out; all his pain, anger, and fear expressed in one horrible cry.

* * *

_First somewh- no, second some what dark chapter. :3_

_Reviews would be nice on this one, I really want to know what people think of it._


	8. Chapter 7

**I'm very, very, very sorry for the slow update. I've got school finals to deal with and other family things, that's why I never actually wanted to start a whole 'series' FanFic, because I knew I'd never be able to get around to it. I'll try and update faster, but...no promises.**

* * *

"I'm telling you he's planning something, something bad." The artic cat grumbled as he plopped down onto the old bed next to Tails and Sally.

It had only been a few weeks since Tails witnessed firsthand at what the Combat Robians could do, and the sinister mind that let them do it. Robotnik had been feared, turning mobians into robots wasn't something many approved of, but this was almost beyond what anybody thought he could do.

"But what is he planning?" Tails thought aloud as he stared off into the darkened cell he now lived in.

After Tails and Sally returned Robotnik had stopped calling them in to be tortured. At first it seemed like a good thing, but now they were becoming suspicious. Paranoid as Rowan called it. He suggested maybe the fat human finally had a heart attack!

"I don't know, but I don't like it." Leon replied with a soft sigh. "It ain't like him to just…stop like that. Maybe…maybe he did die."

"If he did then why are the SWATbots still bringing in food?"

The Robian cat grunted but said nothing and another long lapse of silence followed yet again.

Tails shut his eyes and rested his head on the concrete wall behind him. It hadn't taken the fox long to get used to the odd cell. After Knothole was destroyed food, water, and hope was hard to come by, so this was nothing new to him. The robotic legs, however, we something new, and it proved hours of contempt and curiosity.

After days of testing his news legs, Tails discovered he could do almost everything most athletes wish they could accomplish. He could jump and touch the ceiling, which, according to Leon, was about eight or nine feet high. He could run incredibly fast, reaching from one side of the room to the other in a second or so. The only issue was it drained his body, leaving him ready to pass out even after a few short jumps towards the ceiling.

According to both Leon and Rowan, Robotnik altered the roboticizor to do just that, giving him an extra security measure incase they somehow did escape.

Escape…

Just the thought frustrated the fox to his wits end. Escape was so simple it was almost insulting they couldn't pull it off! Attack the SWATbots who bring in food, close the exit, detatch its wrist-cannon, break out of the cell and hunt down Robotnik. With the help of the captive's robotic arms and legs it would be a cakewalk.

But of course the one thing that would assure them an easy victory also kept them from achieving it. How Robotnik was able to it still puzzled Tails, but that thought didn't stay for long. How to break it was more important.

"You're sure you've tried everything to break that block?" Tails asked as he shifted into a comfortable sitting position on the small bed.

"Yes." Leon replied irritably; he'd answered the question many, many times before. "Both Rowan and I have tried everything we could think of and none of it worked."

"You're sure?"

The cat turned his head to face the fox, a sick grin on his face. "If I wasn't I'd be long dead by now."

Tails gave a solemn nod, knowing how deathly serious his friend was. All of them would accept death with open arms, no matter how horrible that death was. Yet the fox wasn't sure if he'd want to go down without a fight. He'd love to take that horrible tyrant Robotnik down with him, but that was impossible.

"Every place has a weakness or fault, even Robotropolis.." Tails muttered.

"What was that?" The cat asked as he lazily raised an eyebrow.

"A quote from an old friend of mine."

"Well, no offense to your friend or anything, but this place has no weakness. " Leon replied with a snort.

"Mhmm, Bunnie could prove you wrong.." As soon as he uttered his old friends' name the fox regretted it, the painful memories associated with her flooding back to his mind.

"..Bunnie…Bunnie.." There was a pause as the cat tried to place the name. "..Wait, you mean Bunnie Rabbot? The Bunnie Rabbot?"

The fox slowly shook his head, hoping Leon would drop the conversation at that.

"Isn't she the one who lead all those SWATbots to K-"

"Yes." Tails cut in fiercer than he meant to.

"You knew her?"

"Yes."

"But I heard sh-"

"Look," Tails snapped at the cat, shutting him up almost instantly. "I knew her, she was my friend, she was my fellow Freedom Fighter, and yes, she did do all those things. But it wasn't her fault. "

The fox looked down at his metallic feet, blinking angry tears out of his eyes. After a couple minutes a silently cursing Robotnik with every foul name he could think of, Tails glanced over towards Leon, who was fast asleep.

With a weary sigh the fox closed his eyes, the memories of Bunnie's 'return' plaguing his mind. He could do nothing to stop that day run through his mind.

Alone, tired, and scared, the fox cried; cried for all the people Robotnik had killed, all the people he'd turned into slaves, and most of all, the torment he put the people of Knothole through when he revealed his latest plan; the Combat Robian.

_"Here they come!"_

_Knothole, one of the few safe havens for Mobians, and the command center for the famous Freedome Fighters, sat lodged in the middle of a large forest near the outskirts of Robotropolis. It had grown considerably in the past few years, thanks to a group of traveling Mobians who wanted to seek refuge within the small town._

_A fox, brownish-gold with an odd two tails ran through the small town towards its entrance, which was just a small bridge over a river that ran nearby. Next to the rivers' edge was a large tree with a small platform built about thirty up. Standing in the platform was a black and white skunk outfitted with pink boots, a pink belt and sash that went over his chest. Strapped to his arm was a green glove, a miniature crossbow adorned at the top._

_Taking the binoculars down from his eyes, Geoffrey St. John glanced down towards the bridge, where an over eager fox waited for his brother to return from his mission. Smirking, the skunk brought the binoculars back up again, this time getting a better look at the band of Freedom Fighters._

_Something…something wasn't right, Geoffrey could tell just by the way they were all dragging there feet back, and because the Princess seemed to be..crying. Literally dropping the binoculars the skunk quickly turned and climbed down the tree, via a latter built into the side._

_Ignoring the numerous questions from Tails once he reached the ground, who could tell something was wrong, he quickly ran over the bridge and towards the group._

_Sonic was the first to approach him, a hardly ever seen look of doubt across the hedgehog's face._

_"What happened?" Geoffrey asked with a warry glance towards Sally, who was trying to be comforted by a stressed Antione._

_"I-I failed her.." Sonic muttered in reply._

_"Who?"_

_"Bunnie. The first time I saved her from Robotnik's clutches I swore I wouldn't let her become his slave." He paused and looked up at the sky. "I failed her, Geoff. I failed her." _

_

* * *

_

Blarg, flashbacks. I didn't want to fall back and use one, but I honestly ran out of ideas for stuff to do in this chapter.

That's the one thing I don't like about my writing, I'm horrible when it comes to talking-only segments. –sigh-

Oh well, it gives you a somewhat idea as to what happened.

I promise the next chapter will be much, much better.

Also I'm thinking of making the 'flashback' an actual story or at least a prequel to this one. But that all depends on if I finish this one!


End file.
